Chapter
4 of Animism: Respecting the Living World engages with various
aspects of Aboriginal relationships with land or place(s).

I have been privileged
to spend a little time with culture teachers in and around Mparntwe,
Alice Springs. I especially want to honour Bob Randall (who was working
with the Institute of Aboriginal Development when I met him in 1996)*

Bob took me to visit
some of the places of significance in the area - the above photo is
from Anthwerrke (Emily Gap).

is
this a panoramic view of a town and its environs or a vision of
persons meeting? If it is the latter, there are dogs, caterpillars,
humans, and other persons here - not necessarily in the forms these
names suggest in European languages. Click
here to see another way of representing this same landscape
community country and its Lore/Law.

the
winter pools mistaken for springs that gave Alice Springs its English
name

Heavytree
Gap - men's sacred place but now a major road (carefully hidden
in this photo but not in this caption)

Emily
Gap - initiation site

Emily
Gap: caterpillar moving

Emily
Gap: rock art

Beneath
all the haze of invasive non-indigenous grasses, a small rock is
among the most sacred place-persons of the area near Emily Gap

Similarly,
even if other nearby Dreaming sites look more impressive,
this wild dog, Akngwelge Thirrewe, is among the most important places
in what is now Alice Springs. Click
here for the rock/dog's information sign.

Yarrentye
- the dog's entrails discussed on p.78 of Animism: Respecting
the Living World. (Click here for
a bit more)

caterpillar
/ rock ridge badly damaged to make way for a road servicing tourist
facilities (for more info, click
here)

Marker
for a Dreaming tree lost to a road

A
Dreaming tree and would-be ritual site now surrounded by the shops
and business of downtown Alice

*
On p.77 of the book I say that Bob Randall is a Walpiri man. I thought
that's what he told me. But in his book illustrated by Kunyi June-Anne
McInerney, Tracker Tjugingji (Jukurrpa Books, 2003) he is named
a a Pitjantjatjara man.

last
updated 23 July 2006

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